1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wet processing apparatus used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices and liquid crystal display (LCD) panels.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the manufacture of semiconductor devices and LCD panels, wet processing steps for removing contamination therefrom are so essential that the manufacturing yield is dependent thereupon. Generally, a wet processing step using an alkali solution such as an anmonia water/hydrogen peroxide water mixture (APM) is applied to remove nonorganic particles, and a wet processing step using an acid solution such as a hydrosulfurous acid/hydrogen peroxide water mixture (SPM) or hydrochloric acid/hydrogen peroxide water mixture (HPM) is applied to remove metal particles. Also, a wet processing step using an alcohol solution such as an isopropyl alcohol solution (IPA) is to remove organic particles.
Two or more of the above-mentioned wet processing steps are often carried out in a single wet processing apparatus.
A prior art wet processing apparatus is formed by a first processing chamber for carrying out a first process with first chemicals, a second processing chamber for carrying out a second process with second chemicals, and a separation cell provided between the first and second processing chambers and receiving pure water therein, a partitioning plate is fixed between the first and second processing chambers, to partition the first processing chamber from the second processing chamber. In this case, a lower end of the partitioning plate is immersed below a surface of pure water of the separation cell (see JP-A-5-343387). This will be explained later in detail.
In the prior art wet processing apparatus, since a wafer carrier for accommodating wafers has to be moved within the separation cell from one of the chambers to the other chamber or vice versa, the separation cell is large in size. This increases consumption of pure water. In addition, the motion of the wafers within the separation cell generates static electricity between the wafers and pure water, so that the wafers are charged which destroys the function thereof.